Surge in crime

08 Apr 2016

Southbank experienced a record increase in crime in 2015, according to statistics released last month.

Statistics show 2885 crimes were reported in Southbank in 2015, up a staggering 16.8 per cent on 2014.

While Southbank crimes comprised just 9 per cent of the total recorded crimes in Melbourne municipality, it reflects a negative trend that hasn’t seen a decrease since 2011.

The statistics show an overall increase in total crime in the Melbourne area, up from 32,747 crimes in 2014 to 33,334 offences in 2015.

Of these, the majority were recorded in Melbourne’s CBD, with 22,080 offences in 2015.

According to Southbank Police Station commander Snr Sgt Steve Bills, the overall crime increase in Melbourne, and particularly Southbank, was driven by property-related crime.

“I feel like I’m repeating myself again and again but the majority of the contribution for this latest spike is what we call property-related crime – so theft from motor vehicles, theft of motor vehicles,” he said.

“Particularly around Southbank, with all of our vertical housing, crime is around people not locking their storage cages because they don’t lock their cars, they don’t lock their storage cages because they believe that they’re in a secure area.”

Snr Sgt Bills urged residents to exercise greater vigilance with their belongings as property related crimes were very difficult to police.

“Unfortunately there’s not a lot that we can do about it because they’re very difficult crimes to prevent and the best way of prevention is from community involvement,” he said.